Travel

Considering I hadn’t set foot on an aeroplane before I was 30, it’s remarkable that in the intervening decades I have begun to enjoy travel for its own sake. My partner Sue is even more of a travel addict so we tend to clock up the air miles whenever we can.  Our philosophies, however, take […]

Ever since I led my first tour to Vietnam I have had this sneaking sense of unease.  I don’t at all understand why the Australian government so willingly joined America’s war in Vietnam but I do get why Australian troops went there, especially the ‘Nashos” (National Servicemen). Britain decided not to get involved (we had […]

In February 2012, Sandy MacGregor and I, as co-authors of the best-selling military adventure Tunnel Rats, led  a select group of travellers to where Aussie troops were based in Vietnam, working hard, playing harder, and creating the legend of the Tunnel Rats. That tour, which had guests ranging from young blokes in their 20s to one […]

I’ve done a bit of travel writing in my time and in recent years I have even become a travel guide, taking my own tour to Vietnam (with Sandy MacGregor, to retrace the footsteps of the sappers of 3 Field troop, celebrated in Tunnel Rats and A Sappers War. Here’s the best of what I’ve […]

Back in September 1999 (was it really that long ago?) Sue and I went to the Venice Film Festival. It was her second time and my first. As a Venice Virgin I found it exhausting and exhilarating in equal parts, as I hope this piece I wrote for the brilliant Urban Cinefile website conveys. It’s […]